INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 315 



helpful in forming a conception 'of the principles that 

 must enter into the treatment of chronic infections of 

 the digestive tract by putrefactive anaerobes. It must 

 be emphasized that the degree of success with which 

 these general principles of treatment are applied in 

 individual instances of disease will depend upon an 

 actual knowledge of individual peculiarities pertaining to 

 patients. 



The slighter grades of chronic excessive intestinal 

 putrefaction are as a rule quickly improved by suitable 

 measures. It is helpful to think of the clinical mani- 

 festations in these cases as represented graphically by 

 a curved line running at a variable distance below a 

 straight horizontal line representing the separation of 

 physiological from pathological manifestations. A line 

 traced above this critical line indicates that a person 

 has no symptoms of diminished function ; and the greater 

 the distance between the two lines, the greater is the 

 reserve or margin of resisting power which has to be lost 

 before symptoms of derangement set in. A line running 

 below the critical line indicates that the defensive pro- 

 cesses of the organism are no longer adequate to pre- 

 vent clinical manifestations of disease. Where derange- 

 ments are slight it may be assumed that there will be a 

 prompt disappearance of symptoms as soon as there has 

 been a restoration of the balance between the powers of 

 resistance and the agencies underlying disordered func- 

 tion. The mere disappearance of symptoms, however, 

 does not mean that a condition of normal health has 

 been reestablished, for a state of robust health would 



